Keywords

Introduction

Abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) represents a potentially life-threatening condition in critically ill patients. The control of intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) plays a pivotal role in prevention/treatment of ACS. We compared the efficacy of two different therapies – open and open-vacuum-assisted closure (open-VAC) treatment [1] – on resolution of intra-abdominal hypertension/prevention of ACS.

Methods

We prospectively analyzed data of 26 consecutive patients admitted to the ICU of our emergency department (Careggi Teaching Hospital, Florence) with sepsis from an abdominal source, hemorrhagic shock, and major trauma. All patients underwent laparotomic surgery before ICU admission with open-VAC treatment. As a control group we retrospective analyzed 17 patients admitted with the same diagnosis and treated with open treatment. IAP was evaluated by measuring the urinary bladder pressure [2]. Patients' demographic and clinical characteristics, and laboratory parameters were collected from the ICU database (FileMaker Pro 5.5v2; FileMaker, Inc., USA) with authorization of the Careggi Teaching Hospital Committee of the Emergency Department. For each patient, data were collected before the surgical treatment with a closed abdomen (T1), 6 hours after ICU admission (T6), after 24 hours (T24), 24 hours after abdomen closing (T24C), and at monitoring suspension (TMS). Statistical analysis: Student's t test (*P < 0.05). Data reported as the mean ± SD.